England legend Shilton blasts ‘overrated’ Man City outcast Hart

Hart has endured a testing few months, with high-profile and costly errors at the European Championships being followed by a loan move to Serie A side Torini after being frozen out at Manchester City by new boss Pep Guardiola.

And he has not found an ally in Shilton, who believes Hart has always been rated far higher than he has merited.

“I’ve never felt he is as good as a lot of people thought he was,” he said.

“Obviously he’s a good keeper but although he has great games, a keeper is judged by the amount of mistakes he makes and those have happened right through his career. In the Euros he made two mistakes in three games.

“What I don’t understand about Joe is that he has 60-odd caps and yet people were saying he was getting too wound up before games in the Euros. If you don’t know what you’re doing after 60 caps, there is something wrong. I thought he was too wound up but apparently that is his style.

Hart retained his place for England in Sam Allardyce’s first game in charge, and was relatively untested in the 1-0 win over Slovakia. However, Shilton believes his position in the Three Lions’ side should not be automatic.

“He’s under pressure now and he’s come back to the pack. Joe was always looked upon as the number one but now there is competition.

“It’s all to play for now. It’s up to the other keepers to make the shirt theirs.

“You need three or four keepers to choose from and then Sam makes his choice from there and stands or falls by it.”